Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Years ago, I was vacationing in New York when I turned on a hotel room TV only to see a national news report showing smoke rising from Western Penitentiary and detailing an inmate uprising there. It was a strange experience for me as a reporter--watching an event from afar that I would most surely be covering if were I home and on duty.

Western Penitentiary In Happier Times. [No, I was not a reporter at the time of this etching]

So far, there's been no breaking news story to overshadow my current vacation, but the week is still young. At least now I can blog about it if something happens.

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I'm still in town while vacation this week, though did I spend last Friday in Akron covering the sentencing of Donna Moonda. That assignment put me out of the loop for the moment in covering the city budget. City communications staffer Joanna Doven was nice enough to agree to set aside for me a hard copy of the mayor's 2008 budget and five-year-plan. (It's a sign of my long-standing acquired taste for covering city government that I missed being there for the media presentation. )

I e-mailed a welcome to the mayor's new press secretary, Alecia Sirk on Monday. I note the latest news releases from the mayor's office still have Joanna's name on them; perhaps there's a delay in the transition.

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Rauterkus

UberBlogger Mark Rauterkus posted about my vacation before I did. In his role as a candidate for city controller, he sent me links to his flurry of complaints filed with the Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board. The PG's Early Returns noted the details in this post, under the headline "Can't muzzle Mark". Mr. Rauterkus managed to create an online access complaint form for the ethics board, while the city has not yet done so. The ethics board was unable to meet as planned recently (because of concern it could not muster a quorum, according to the law department). Their next scheduled meeting will be the second Friday in October.

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Speaking of prolific Pittsburghers, PG reporter and columnist Dennis Roddy's latest podcast is online. You can check out his reflections on the Pittsburgh Organizing Group's anti-war protests here.